Forty Years of Honda Drag Racing
FORTY YEARS OF HONDA DRAG RACING
RACE WATCH
Russ Collins' insane Hondas inspired a generation of American drag racers, including Kent Stotz
Kent Stotz began drag racing in 1977 at age 19. Told he was too old for a career in motocross, the Chi-Town kid parked his dirtbike and took on the quarter-mile. His inspiration? None other than the wild man of motorcycle drag racing, Russ Collins.
“Russ was my hero, plain and simple,” says Stotz. “My dad drag raced cars, but Collins was the one I watched. He was the “Big Daddy” Don Garlits of motorcycle drag racing, the person I wanted to become: a bike builder who could ride.”
Collins put Honda into drag racing’s record books beginning in 1969 with the then-new CB750. “The Assassin,” his blown-and-injected Honda Four, debuted in 1971. Two years later, Collins upped the ante with the “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe,” a nitromethane-burning, frvp/e-engined Top Fueler on which he posted the first twowheel 7-second ET-7.80 seconds at 179.5 mph. In 1976, at an event in Akron, Ohio, that same bike nearly killed him.
During his recovery, RC designed “The Sorcerer,” a wicked Top Fuel weapon that eventually put him through the traps at 199.5 mph in 7.30 seconds. That 1977 run on the twin-engined Flonda stood for 12 years.
While Collins flirted with 200 mph, Stotz was winning races on his streetbike, running 11 s at 122 mph. He couldn’t fathom matching Collins’ performances. “That speed, that ET, was just unimaginable to me,” he says.
Collins hung up his leathers in 1980, passing the torch to RC Engineering employees Terry Vance and Byron Hines and, unknowingly, to Stotz.
At the time, Stotz was heavily involved in “Street ET.” Weekends crewing for Funnybike racer T.J. Hofmeister of Mr. Turbo fame further expanded his knowledge of bike building and riding. A turbocharged Kawasaki KZ900 (9.96 seconds at 143 mph) led to a turbo Suzuki GS1100, and, by 1988, Stotz dropped the class mark to 8.73 at 163 mph.
AMA/Prostar Drag Racing recognized the growing streetbike movement and asked Stotz to help organize a national class that
eventually became Streetbike Shootout. Rules were few: streetbikes on street tires, stretched and lowered, turbocharged, blown or juiced, no wheelie bar. Entries were nearly
as crazy as Collins’ masterpieces. Stotz won the premier AMA/Prostar championship in 1995, and again in 1998, teaming with tuner Bill Hahn aboard an > injected, turbo’d GSX-R1100. That’s when Honda asked if Stotz would race its CBR1100XX.
Honda’s Charlie Keller remembered Russ Collins and knew about Stotz. “The Honda Rider’s Club of America was reaching out to engage owners where they rode,” says Keller. “The idea was to partner with people who could ‘walk the walk,’ not just ‘talk the talk.’ I knew Kent had a Honda heart; we just had to get him riding Red.”
In 2000, riding a CBR-XX, Stotz set a top-speed record of 185.15 mph and won AMA/Prostar’s Best Engineered award. He won the championship a year later with a new record of 7.75 seconds at 189.31 mph. He was also the number-one qualifier in the last five rounds. AMA/Prostar named him Rider of the Year.
The following season, Stotz reset the record (7.64 at 192.33), won four of eight rounds and a second title for Honda. Another record in ’03
(7.52 at 192.53) led to the whopper in ’04: 200 mph. In March, 2006, at the Bike Week Nationals in Valdosta, Georgia, he made five consecutive passes at more than 200 mph, with a best of 7.275 at 201.82.
In 2007, Stotz traded his XX for a CBR1000RR. He was immediately in the hunt despite being the only Honda amongst hordes of larger-displacement Suzuki Haya-
busas. To date, Stotz’s Honda has run a best of 7.31 seconds.
Stotz has come a long way in 20 years.
“I used to just want to be the fastest guy in Illinois,” he laughs. “Russ Collins inspired me with his innovation, drive to win and toughness. He started the Honda dragracing legacy, and I’m proud to be part of that story.” -Nick lenatsch
